phantom islands
Uchiha Itachi reaches for the power of the Mangekyo, ready to do what he must.
His little brother does not understand? Very well, he will make sure he does, through the deaths of their parents returned to the forefront.
(That hate is the only option.)
“Tsukuyomi.”
He stands in shallow water, lapping at his sandals. Several armspans away, stands someone. Something human-shaped.
It watches him, head tilted so its silver hair drags against one shoulder. Looking at him with eyes that are purely red, lacking tomoe or other such designs. Thick stripes of purple line the right side of its otherwise pale face. Like scars or birthmarks. It doesn’t seem to be wearing clothing that is in any way familiar, a second layer of skin patterned in navy and light red. A white heart symbol lies on its chest, broad and loudly declared in sharp spikes.
(A familiar symbol...one he’s seen only marked on Leader’s forehead.)
His brother is not here. Only him and the creature, in water that reflects a blood red sky.
“Of course you’d try this,” the creature rasps. “Knew you would.”
It smiles at him, contorting its purple flesh with the unnatural gesture.
“What else would you do?”
Itachi is jolted from the impossibly failed Tsukuyomi by a skull to his face. Cracking as hard as it can. He staggers back, letting his brother go to put up fingers up to his nose.They come away red. Bleeding.
“Oh man, I didn’t break it. That sucks,” his brother says, with words that don't sound like him at all, but more...
Itachi stiffens. “Abomination.”
It rolls eyes that are red, but not with the Sharingan. “Freak.”
The spiked heart of its chest sketches itself lightly into existence on his brother’s forehead. A sign of what currently possesses him.
“Sasuke?” The jinchuriki looks between Itachi and his little brother, confused. “What’s going on?”
“Yeah, Itachi-san, mind explaining?” Kisame’s hand rests easily on Samehada, ready to put the sword to work.
“A mind demon,” he says as much as needed to satisfy his partner’s question before turning his attention more fully towards the demon in question.
“The wards should keep your kind out.”
It laughs and the sound is anything but Sasuke’s voice, rough and screeching together.
“You really thought-? You killed people who trusted you in their homes. Scattered their blood in betrayal. If that wouldn’t destroy spiritual protections, I don’t know what will!”
Sasuke’s arms stretch out to the sides, showcasing the entire body. The prize it has stolen.
“Behold! Consequences! Aren’t they great?”
Everything about how the creature uses his brother’s body is wrong. Exaggerated movement, that crooked smile, how it dances from foot to foot...
(It reminds him of Shisui. That cannot stand.)
Itachi meets red eyes. Sends forth a genjutsu meant for sleep. He can do more in-depth work to be rid of the creature once it is down.
It blinks at him. “Really? Again?”
If genjutsu has no effect on the creature...Itachi will have to subdue Sasuke’s body in a much more violent matter than is usually required. A shame, but broken bones will surely do the trick. Blood loss serves as another possibility.
(The village will not let their last Uchiha die until they have used him to his fullest.)
“Then you leave me no choice,” he says coldly. Letting a kunai rest in his palm.
Another twisted smile. “Looking forward to it.”
Movement. The creature dashes forward, throwing its arms behind it like the usual tree run demands, the rest of the body lowering in line with that stance. Easy. Too easy.
Itachi slices out at an arm. Cuts through cloth smoothly, only to get almost caught on something under the clothing. The same strange blue material that covered the creature in Tsukuyomi, come into existence in the world outside the mind.
Hm. He twists the kunai for a more solid stab as to get through.
It attempts to headbutt his face. Again.
“Stop that.”
“Stop being a jerk and maybe I will,” it sasses back, jumping back just out of reach.
“Give Sasuke back!” The jinchurki yells. And in that yell, there is a flash of red in blue blue eyes. A thickening in the whiskers across that face.
Kisame raises his eyebrows. “Oh? Isn’t this interesting.”
Itachi cannot help the twitch at the rising of a familiar heavy power. A twitch that he easily transforms into readying another attack on the abomination in his brother. Which dodges once more, easily.
The jinchurki looks at his hands. His newly clawed hands. Shocked by his own bijuu coming forward, it seems. Is the seal failing? “Wait, what’s happening? I’m not-!”
“Oopsie, I forgot.” It tilts its head, black hair flopping to the side. “Ku- your fox haaates me.”
The twisting poisoned chakra of the bijuu grows stronger in the air. Until Itachi can almost taste it over the blood in his mouth. Something dark rises in the direction of his brother’s body, as if to meet that pressure.
Kisame grins, his own bloodlust rising. “A monster even a bijuu hates? Sounds like a fight to me.”
Itachi moves slightly to the side, to allow him a better angle. Perhaps the chakra devouring nature of Samehada will be enough to put the beast down.
Only to feel a strange stickiness at his feet. His eyes flick down, barely enough to capture what stays his movement. His and Kisame, who is also struggling by his side. Pink flesh, surrounding them on the floors and walls and ceiling.
“Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind!”
Ah.
The Toad Sage. Arrived at last.
Ameteratsu is more than enough to take care of this ‘toad lining,’ black flames burning them free. As he and Kisame retreat, all Itachi can hear is the demon’s laughing. Going on and on. Howling. Yipping.
An echo of how he has failed.
If the Toad Sage does not subdue it with seals, if Konoha has not enough power to beat it back...Itachi inhales. Coughs, blood splattering slightly down his lips.
Then his brother...might have to die, for the creature to be stopped. So it can do no harm to the village.
For the sake of the future, he will do what he must.
“What I have to.”