𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 - Max Mayfield

52. Echoes Of The Upside Down

Aiden tilted his head to look at Steve who was standing behind Itachi. "You're seeing and hearing this too right?"

"I have no idea what's going on,but yeah" Steve nodded.

"Okay,thank goodness" Aiden breathed out. "I thought I was under a genjutsu"

"I'm as real as this twisted dimension we all stand in right now" Itachi said. "I was reanimated by Orochimaru and consequently sent to you by him. Which means..."

"You're automatically going to try and kill me" Aiden finished, remembering fully well how the Edo Tensei worked as he readied himself. Aiden immediately created two more clones and had then on standby"

"I'm deeply sorry, Aiden" Itachi took a step towards the younger ninja.

"Wait," Steve stepped forward in alarm. "what?! Kid, you're just gonna stand there?!"

"I'll be fine, Steve... And those clones will be with you if the bats come back before Nancy and the others find us" Aiden nodded towards the older teen before looking at Itachi. "I promise, I'll free you from Oro's control.."

Itachi nodded in appreciation before both ninjas suddenly sprinted towards each other.

The Uchiha struck first, attempting a left hook which Aiden dodged before sending a hook of his own, only for Itachi to block it. Aiden immediately pulled back and swung again,this time aiming for his midsection only for Itachi to sidestep and immediately raise his leg in an attempt at a roundhouse kick, narrowly missing Aiden's head by an inch.

"Shit" Aiden's breath hitched at the near hit. The two ninjas kept exchanging strikes for a few more seconds, although it was harder for Aiden to keep up as Itachi had more battle experience. Aiden managed a kick to Itachi's chest which pushed the reanimated ninja back a few feet, giving him a second to breathe.

"Wait a fucking minute..." Aiden whispered to himself. "I forgot he has his Sharingan activated at all times.. no wonder this is going nowhere, he can see my next move"

"You finally figured it out," Itachi called out. Aiden nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Let's take this somewhere else" Aiden said, the orange pigmentation suddenly appearing on his eyelids. "I don't want Steve getting hurt"

"Just like Naruto," Itachi said with a fond smile on his face. "Always putting loved ones first"

"Stay safe,okay?" Aiden nodded towards Steve before leaping off the trailer to lure Itachi away.

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Pained screeches echoed through the Upside Down as Nancy ripped the head off a demo-bat using the sharp end of the oar in her hands. She, Eddie and Robin had just arrived through the portal to see Steve,Aiden and his clones trying to fight a good number of bats off and immediately stepped in, doing anything they could with the weapons they had.

A clone had once again used fire release on a bat almost immediately incinerating it while Steve held another down,quite literally biting its head off.

The group of teenagers finally caught their breath after they were sure all the demobats were dead. As Nancy was about to scold the life out of her younger brother for being so careless and not listening to her,all the clones poofed away simultaneously.

"Wait,what?!" Eddie exclaimed.

"They were all clones?" Robin looked around. "Where's the real one?!"

"Steve," Nancy immediately turned to her ex. "Where's Aiden?"

"He went off to fight some guy.." Steve breathed out.

"Some guy?" Robin asked.

"I don't know,he was a crow at first and attacked Aiden... then he turned into a guy..." Steve still found it hard to believe anything he'd seen. He placed his hands on his head in confusion.

"What'd he look like?" Nancy asked. "This guy, what'd he look like?"

"Black hair.. kinda tall... Red eyes.."

"Red eyes?" Nancy's panic started to increase. Based on what little knowledge of Naruto lore she knew, red eyes either signified the influence of the nine tails or that someone had the Sharingan. If Aiden was fighting against someone who had either ability, it was definitely not gonna be in his favour.

"We have to find him" Nancy looked at the others.

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Aiden let out laboured breaths as he crouched on one knee, his black and white air forces already heavily stained black from the alternate dimension's soil. His dreads were draped a little over his still orange eyes as he stared down Itachi who stood above him, not even looking remotely tired despite the fight going on for almost twenty minutes straight, both ninjas constantly switching styles between taijutsu and ninjutsu. Itachi had used genjutsu at one point. Luckily, Aiden's resistance to the illusions was remarkably high.

"Any idea why Naruto and Sasuke aren't aware of this bastard wreaking havoc in another reality?" Aiden breathed out.

"They have planetary threats on their tails right now" Itachi stated.

"The otsutsuki?" The younger boy realised.

"Particularly, the man called Jigen" Itachi nodded as he rushed towards Aiden who immediately leapt to his feet, blocking a punch from the dead ninja with his forearm. "They're protecting the village and the planet as a whole from external threats.. leaving Orochimaru free to explore other realms"

"How did he even know this one existed?" Aiden leapt backwards onto a building, immediately throwing a barrage of shurikens at Itachi.

"I'm not sure but I assume it has to do with your arrival in the leaf village" Itachi detected and dodged all the shurikens thrown at him. "And I'm sure it was with the assistance of the one you call Vecna"

"It stands to reason" Aiden caught sight of Itachi weaving hand signs and immediately thought to dodge, leaping out of the way milliseconds before the building he was just on got engulfed in flames, earning painful screeches from the vines that covered the building.

As he landed back on the floor, Aiden felt a reduction in his senses and realised Sage Mode was about to shut down. He needed to end this. Fast.

"I'm sorry,I have to stop holding back" Aiden immediately started to weave hand signs.

'Sage art: Flame Bullet'

A stream of fire erupted from the boy's lips and headed towards Itachi.

"So must I" Itachi nodded in understanding, closing his eyes. The Uchiha's right eye seemed to start bleeding for a second as red liquid flowed from his eyes down to his cheek.

'Amaterasu'

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