บท 11: Genin Days (VIII).
He needed to endure this frankly speaking embarrassing situation of himself being carried on a shoulder like a sack of potatoes for nearly two hours, and being soaking wet from the rain didn't improve his mood either. The only positive thing about this situation was that Anko had been 'kidnapped' too, which didn't only mean that she didn't need to sneak after them but that she was carried the same way. At least this way she would be too embarrassed herself to tease him about it later.
'Honestly', he couldn't help but think. 'She and Kisame would be best friends if they ever meet. They have the same sense of humour.'
Then, finally, they apparently reached their destination; a part of the coast with no trees in sight, making it impossible to sneak up on them. Looking around further he saw...
Boats. Lots and lots of boats.
'Where did they want to bring us? The only location they could reach by boat was-' His eyes widened. 'The Land of Water!'
But that couldn't be right. The Land of Water was off-limits for everyone, and while nobody else currently knew why it closed it borders yet, Itachi had the advantage of future knowledge. In fact, he had even heard some first-hand reports from Kisame. He didn't know if the country was already fighting a civil war or if the rebels were just starting to organize for one, but he was reasonably sure that neither side should have had either the time or the resources to send a team of their ninja to kidnap random children from a neighbourhood country.
'But if they had the money, which they guaranteed had, they could arrange some mercenaries to do so for them...'
He had some ideas regarding what one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries could get from kidnapping civilian children, and he didn't like any of them one bit.
However, he had currently other worries.
Itachi couldn't allow either himself or Anko to be transported into the Land of Water. That would be suicide, not just as a shinobi of Konoha but also as the wielder of a Kekkei Genkai. By the face Anko was making, she knew that as well.
He motioned her not to do anything yet. The kidnappers had already begun shipping the first children away, but nobody of them was too far out yet. He had a plan of how to rescue them, he only needed a bit more time. Tanaka-sensei and Yukio were probably waiting at the edge of the forest, just barely out of sight from where he and Anko were currently waiting to be shipped off too. As soon as the two of them would start fighting the criminals, they would come to aid them against-
"Hey, Taro! Akito and Daichi found some Shinobi sneaking around in the area. They're taking care of them at the moment, but we need to hurry this up a bit. We have no idea if there are any more of them close by."
The person that had been spoken to, Taro, was, if the way everyone listened to his every command was anything to go by, the leader of this group. There wasn't much to see if you looked at him as a coat hid most of his body and the bandages he had wrapped around his head hid everything but his eyes. But Itachi didn't need to see how he looked like to know that he was dangerous; the way he held himself and the fact that his senses warned him from this man was more than enough indications for that.
"Well," Taro said. "That's really annoying. But alright. Dai, Akaya, Benjiro; go and help Akito and Daichi. No need risking some random shinobi disclose on our operation, so make sure you kill them without leaving too many signs."
The three addressed person nodded and vanished in a Shunshin.
That changed his plan. With these three gone, Taro was the only enemy Shinobi left. All the other kidnappers, of which only ten were still on land and not in one of the boats, were mere bandits. Anko and he should be able to beat them, no matter how uneasy he felt about the leader. It's not like they had a choice in this anyway. They needed to help their other teammates. While he had no doubts about Tanaka-sensei's abilities and knew that Yukio was a Chūnin-level fighter, five against two weren't great odds. Especially when he didn't know the capabilities of these five enemies.
This way there was no guarantee they would be able to do anything for the other children, but they couldn't let themselves be stopped by that.
He freed himself from his bindings but held them in place to make it look as if he was still tied up. No need to give away he was free before he made his move. Itachi needed to wait only a few more seconds before one of the bandits pushed him into the direction of one of the boats and he went along with it, aware that he would be led straight past Taro.
The moment he stood before him, Itachi began his attack:
He let the ropes fall to the ground while simultaneously giving Anko a sign to start her own offensive before looking right into Taro's eyes, Sharingan activated.
He used the most powerful Genjutsu he was currently able to use, which was a pretty decent mid-level technique, to immobilize the man. While he wasn't able to move around as fast as he usually could, he was still proficient enough in Genjutsu to not be rendered completely motionless himself. All he needed to do now was-
There was suddenly a noticeable drain on his chakra, making him instantly realize that his illusion was broken, and the only reason he was able to raise his arms in defence to the kick that would have crushed his chest was that his Sharingan was still activated.
He flew backwards in a straight line, trying and failing to catch himself in mid-air, and landed hard on his back. He continued to slide for a few more metres before finally coming to a stop in a crouched position. He didn't stay like this for longer than half a second before jumping away, though, just in time to evade a bunch of kunai and shuriken that hit the ground where he was only a mere moment ago.
"Oh," Taro commented, sounding amused. "You're clearly not a civilian. Do you belong to these shinobi that are snooping around here? Why am I even asking, of course you are!" He laughed quietly. "And by the fact that you possess the Sharing an, I can conclude that you guys are from Konoha. Well, to be honest, that was the most likely possibility anyway."
Itachi didn't say anything to that. Instead, he used the opportunity to catch his breath and by trying to come up with a plan.
Considering the way his senses had warned him from his opponent and how he had freed himself from Itachi's rather powerful Genjutsu, this man was at least a Jōnin. Maybe even an elite Jōnin, if he was especially unlucky.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Anko making short process with the remaining enemies. As no one of them was a shinobi, it was a rather one-sided fight. But even with her aid, this fight would be nearly impossible for them to win. He might be forced to use his Mangekyo to beat this enemy and then hope that his sensei and teammates would be able to take out the rest as he would be unconscious for the immediate future.
He wondered why the man wasn't doing anything, though. Taro was just standing there, watching his subordinates getting killed one after another until only he was left alive.
"You're probably wondering why I'm not helping these guys killing your little friend over there," Taro spoke up as if reading his mind. "Well, you see... they're trash. You find common criminals like that everywhere, so it's much more efficient to hire a few of them for a job and then kill them after everything is said and done. It's not like you can't replace them afterwards anyway. So, you could even say your friend is doing me a favour!" He started laughing again, more heartily than before.
Anko appeared at his side. "Itachi, are you alright? You hit the ground pretty hard earlier."
He nodded. "We have bigger problems right now. This guy is on a completely different level, he's at least as strong as Sensei. Winning against him will be near impossible."
She didn't argue with him which meant she knew that too.
"So," she continued after a few seconds. "What do you say about going through with Plan G and hoping that Sensei and Yukio will finish their enemies fast enough to aid us?"
He gave a humourless smile. "Sounds good to me."
For now, he silently added in his mind. But if they don't come soon, I will use the Mangekyo, consequences be damned.
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