Hearing Granny Chiyo's words, Sakura looked back at the old woman as Team Seven got continued making their way through the trees.
"What's this "Tailed Beast" that you were talking about?" The pink-haired girl asked, green eyes flickering with both confusion and concern. Granny Chiyo was quick to respond, giving Sakura a surprised look in return.
"What? You're Tsunade's disciple and you don't even know that?! The Leaf Village had a Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit..." The woman explained, glancing over at Naruto for a short moment, the blond boy's eyes widened for a moment, and after a brief pause, Kakashi spoke up.
"The Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit is treated as a top secret amongst the Leaf Village..." he said in a hesitant tone, Chiyo looked over at Naruto as she launched herself off of yet another branch, a look of sympathy on her face. She could only guess how he was feeling right now.
"Well, that's not surprising, I guess... A Tailed Beast refers to Beast Spirits with tails. Long, long ago, the Sand had a one tail. That's the Shukaku sealed within Gaara." Granny Chiyo told the group,
"One-Tail?" Sakura mumbled under her breath,
"do you mean that there are other beasts besides the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit? The pink-haired girl asked out loud as the group began jumping across a river, the trees passing by them like a blur.
"That's right...There are a total of nine-tailed beasts in this world...Tailed beasts have special characteristics." The old woman clarified,
"Each of them has a different number of tails. The One-Tailed has one tail. The Two-Tailed has two. And up to the Nine-tailed, as the name suggests, each name represents the number of tails the beast has. The Tailed Beasts have immense Chakra and in the world of Ninja, they were used for military purposes by Hidden Villages around the world. They competed to get their hands on them." Granny Chiyo told the group, after a moment, she continued.
"But no one was able to control that power which surpassed human intelligence. I don't know why the Akatsuki is after it, but that power is too dangerous... But in this new peaceful age, the Tailed beasts apparently...still exist, having scattered all around the world..." There was another pause, Chiyo noticing that Naruto was becoming more upset. She frowned, wishing she knew how to make him feel better.
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Finally, Team Seven, as well as Granny Chiyo jumped down from the tree tops and landed on the ground. None of them spoke as they continued running forward, that is until Kakashi held his arms out. The group skidded to a stop as the white-haired man's eyes went wide. Chiyo could feel her heart racing, she had a feeling that they were getting close to their destination, so she had no doubt that they were going to encounter someone from the Akatsuki, and sure enough, as the black-haired girl peaked over Kakashi's shoulders, she was proven right. Blocking their path was a familiar face, one of the men who had attempted to kidnap Naruto during their journey to find Tsunade.
"Who is that?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice, however, Kakashi didn't give her an answer.
"Out of the blue huh..." he mumbled to himself. Glancing over at Naruto, Chiyo could see that he remembered the man as well.
"You're..." he started to speak in a low voice. There was another pause as a tense atmosphere surrounded the group until it was broken by Naruto speaking again.
"Itachi...Uchiha!" He called out the man's name, hearing this Sakura let out a quiet gasp.
"Itachi..." Granny Chiyo spoke as she stepped forward,
"So he's the brat that killed his entire clan..." she continued, meanwhile Itachi focused on Naruto, Kakashi, and Chiyo. The black-haired girl felt nervous as she locked eyes with him for a moment.
"It's been a while, Kakashi, Naruto" he spoke. However, he didn't seem interested in Chiyo. Naruto clenched his fist in frustration as Chiyo tried to reach out and stop him from doing anything stupid. However, the blond ignored her and stepped forward.
"You bastard...Not just me, but Gaara too! I will destroy you guys!" Naruto yelled, pointing his finger at Itachi with an angry expression on his face. The man remained calm as he began to raise one hand, seeing this Kakashi became panicked.
"Everyone! Don't look directly at his eyes! It's dangerous!" He warned the group, Itachi continued staring intently at the group who all avoided direct eye contact.
"Itachi's Genjustu is Visual Jutsu. Therefore it's a type where one gets caught by his sight, so it'll be ok as long as we don't make eye contact with him." Kakashi quietly explained,
"Yeah, I know!" Naruto suddenly spoke up.
"But then...How should we fight him?" Sakura added, clearly nervous. Chiyo was as well, but she did her best to hide it.
"Well...Decipher his actions just by how he moves his body and feet." Kakashi told her as they all stood still. The atmosphere becoming more tense.
"That seems pretty hard," Sakura spoke, and Chiyo had to agree, this would not be an easy fight.
"The Uchiha clan, it's been a while since I've gone up against the Sharingan" Granny Chiyo commented, making both Naruto and Chiyo look over at her, surprised. Yet she paid no mind to their reactions.
"You don't have to be that surprised. There are a few fighting techniques to counter his Visual Jutsu." The old woman told them.
"What should we do?" Naruto asked with an unsure expression on his face.
"If it's one against one, then you must flee. If it's two against one, then take the back." She simply spoke, which only seemed to confuse Naruto more.
"Say what?"
"You know what "if it's one against one, then flee." Means right? There is no way you can win. But if it's two against one...If it's two against one, even if one is caught by the Genjustu the other will take his back and hit him. Then the Genjutsu will cease. Even if that's impossible, if you hit your teammate then you can end the Genjutsu. So, if there is more than one of us, then one will distract him. The rest of us will constantly attack him from the back where the Sharingan can't see." Granny Chiyo finished.
"I see," Sakura replied while Chiyo glanced at the black-haired man who remained completely calm.
"Amazing, you know a lot from old age!" Naruto said, feeling slightly more confident that they could win.
"Then I'll take his back" The blond began to step forward but was suddenly stopped by both Kakashi and Chiyo who held him back.
"Wati!" Kakashi warned,
"Kakashi Sensei, what do you mean by Wait?!" Naruto asked the white-haired man in confusion, Granny Chiyo let out an annoyed huff as she began to speak again.
"Do you want to say my way of fighting the Sharingan is wrong?" She questioned him, glancing in his direction. It didn't take long for him to answer.
"That would work if it's an ordinary Genjutsu, but it's a bit more complicated in his case." He spoke,
"What?" the old woman asked, sounding surprised. Chiyo could feel her heart beating as she took a deep breath,
"he uses Mangekyo Sharingan which is a much stronger Visual Jutsu than an ordinary Sharingan. If you receive his Visual Jutsu, then you will experience his Genjutsu in a second. In other words, even though it may seem like a second to others, the person who receives the Jutsu will feel it for hours or days. In my case, I roamed around in his Jutsu for three days and lost consciousness for more than a week. It's not a matter of ending or not ending the Genjutsu." Kakashi explained,
"his Sharingan is much stronger than Sasuke's, watch out Chiyo." Midnight's voice rang out in concern.
"Then how are we supposed to win?" The black-haired girl asked, sweating nervously.
"Just trust Kakashi, I have a feeling he knows what to do."
"You're right" Chiyo spoke, snapping out of her conversation with the wolf.
"Impressive Kakashi, Itachi suddenly spoke again, he was completely calm. He knew he had the upper hand.
"It seems you didn't suffer my Tsukiyomi, Nightmare Realm, in vain." He commented,
"That is not all that I know...After you used the visual Jutsu, you were quite exhausted and you ended the battle immediately and tried to leave. In addition to using up quite a lot of Chakra, it seems to come with some risk to your "eye" as well, Itachi."
"From just one match, you have analyzed it quite well," Itachi commented, remaining as stone-faced as ever. Closing his eyes, Team Seven's sensei spoke once more.
"Hey Itachi. He brought one hand up,
"Your eyesight...How much has it weakened?" He asked before lifting his headband, revealing the scar over his eye. His question seemed to shake Itachi, who looked at him with slightly wide eyes, but he quickly calmed down as Kakashi opened his eyes, revealing the Sharingan he had.