Chapter 222   - Ch222. Uchiha Massacre 2

Rei stood and waited for the thirteen years old Uchiha kid to finally comprehend that someone not of the Uchiha clan just caught him slaughtering the Uchiha clan in the Uchiha district after he was reassured by the Konoha higher-ups that no non-Uchiha will be present for the so-called Uchiha Massacre. Rei had to admit, Itachi really froze in a totally Uchiha-like way.

It didn't take even two seconds but Rei recognized that Itachi was already over his shock and on guard. It wasn't his expression. Far from it. His face stayed cold and expressionless despite the boy's shock. So much that Rei was sure Danzo would praise the boy to the high heavens in his heart. No, it was the small, almost unnoticeable twitch of Itachi's fingers gripping the handle of his katana that gave him away.

"Who are you?" Itachi coolly asked, the only sign of his unnerved state being his tight grip on his weapon.

"Does it really matter? All members of the Uchiha clan who wanted to rebel are dead except your father. I am here simply because I don't want to see the Uchiha clan dead because some albeit skilled but still foolish prepubescent child decided to listen to barmy old men's idiocy." Rei dryly said. He meant every word too. He simply omitted that his vision of the Uchiha clan's survival meant removing them from Konoha for good.

In fact, there was no way Konoha could slaughter every single Uchiha even if they rebelled. First, they were a founding clan and had an important bloodline. Second, there were a lot of non-combatants and killing those would create a very dangerous situation for Konoha once the Daimyo heard of it. Third, with its reputation, Konoha could not afford to seem like a village that executed innocents and there were a lot of innocent Uchiha ninjas who knew nothing about the rebellion.

In short, Itachi was simply the naive but too-skilled-for-his-own-good kid who got manipulated by empty threats into doing the deed for a hateful old man who couldn't do it himself without causing a lot of problems for Konoha.

Sad… really.

Rei watched as Itachi started considering what he told him. Itachi's eyes first showed surprise before a small flicker of hope shined between the cracks but was quickly squashed. Itachi's gaze lingered on Rei and slowly, the emotions within halted, only a deep cold determination remained as Itachi made his decision and his eyes narrowed.

'So... this is the way this event will ensue, eh?' Rei thought in amus.e.m.e.nt, slowly unsheathing his sword. It was all too obvious the boy decided to kill him first, ask questions later. 'Ah, well. I did want to test him, didn't I?'

Itachi only narrowed his eyes further, this time in wariness as he realized Rei's gesture of unsheathing his weapon was simply telling him that his opponent could read him despite the extensive body language control training. At first, he wanted to end it in one fast surprise strike but that was now impossible.

Suddenly springing into action from his semi-relaxed stance, Itachi slashed at Rei in a wide arc, aiming for his neck, causing him to block the slash with his own sword. Itachi expected this and slightly crouched down, pushing his sword a bit away from his body, which also pushed Rei's sword away since they were locked in a clash, and then Itachi's free hand struck at Rei's ribcage, easily grasping a kunai which flew into it mid-swing from Itachi's sleeve.

As he sidestepped the kunai and forced Itachi to retreat due to an attempt at striking his chin, Rei had to admit the kid had skill. From this single exchange, Rei understood Itachi's preferred way of handling things. Misdirection and precise quick strikes to vital areas seemed to be the crux of Itachi's style.

Itachi watched the blond man in front of him with a small frown on his lips. He didn't like this initial exchange at all. Naturally, he didn't expect to kill a warry opponent with one strike. That said, he definitely didn't expect the man shrugging off his illusions.

Itachi always had to rely on precision and timing to breach the distance between him and a.d.u.l.t ninjas. When he first attacked his opponent, he used his Sharingan to make his actions seem a bit delayed from his foe's perspective. He also cast it at the last possible moment. It should have either made his opponent delay the block enough to allow Itachi's sword a clear passage towards its target or it should make his opponent need at least a split of a second to dispel it, giving Itachi much needed time to perform his follow up before his opponent could even realize it. And even then, he actually cast another illusion when he was about to strike with the kunai. One that made his strike seem aimed at the gut, rather than ribcage, two targets close enough that he could simply deviate his arm a bit from the previous trajectory so the illusions would be hard to spot in a reasonable timeframe, much less counter. With his timing, it should have been downright impossible to have time for dispelling the illusion.

Hence, Itachi would have understood if his enemy jumped back. But the blond man simply shrugged both illusions off as if they didn't exist! He did that while looking straight into his Sharingan the entire time! This combo worked against most jonins when they were c.o.c.ky enough to underestimate him and didn't dodge. Even then most were smart enough to try avoiding his eyes. To think someone could counter him while looking straight into his Mangekyo that had an even better effect for enhancing illusions than three tomoe Sharingan...

Needless to say, Itachi instantly understood just how outmatched he currently was since his strongest skill, his illusions, and his biggest advantage, his frightening timing and precision, were easily countered.

'Nevertheless, it doesn't seem as if the man took me seriously. Is he simply testing me? To what end?' Itachi analyzed when he saw his opponent not moving from his spot, simply waiting for him to do his next attack. 'Stalling? No... Fine,' He sighed, 'I guess there is no other choice.'

Itachi crouched in preparation for an attack... Honestly, he started feeling a bit of respect for his foe. If only because not for a second did their eyes separate during the fight. 'Let's see how you will react to...'

Casting three illusions on his enemy, Itachi turned around and ran away as fast as he could, bolting into a side alley to make it even harder for Rei to follow.

Rei blinked at the silent, dark, and empty street where only he and the unconscious form of Izumi were left as a chilly breeze mockingly swept through it... It took his brain three seconds to reboot enough to realize what happened before he chuckled in amazement.

"The kid actually ran?" Rei rubbed his forehead with his hand but his lips refused to stop smiling, "No wonder he went places. He quickly assessed there is no way to win and retreated. Smart kid, I guess." Rei amusedly shrugged.

Honestly, he felt a bit cheated but he had to give praise where it was due. Most ninjas Rei met so far in his long career were total crazed idiots not capable of correctly assessing their enemies from a brief controlled exchange. Most would at least try to fight, hoping for him to make a mistake they could capitalize on. The problem with that was that during the said process, they usually got injured enough that retreating suddenly stopped being such a viable alternative.

As such, Rei could respect Itachi for briefly testing waters and then retreating when he realized that this is not really a fight he is capable of fighting. The only thing Itachi could really do was another Tsukuyomi since that could be called cheating in the ninja world.

'Then again, if he did that and I broke free out of it, which from Itachi's point of view was most likely a slight possibility since I could shrug off his Sharingan illusions, he would be done for.' Rei thought. He knew that Itachi was not yet his older Akatsuki self. The kid was thirteen! Rei actually felt a bit like a bully, facing him. Moreover, casting one Tsukuyomi to protect himself from Izumi's Tsukuyomi should have been quite hard for Itachi. Another Tsukuyomi shortly after that would probably take him out of the fight, no matter if his enemy resisted or not. Yeah, he could really respect Itachi's call to retreat.

Shaking his head, Rei put Izumi's body on his shoulder and created a shadow clone that took the corpse of Izumi's grandmother. It was time to go.