Chapter 17: Deperate Struggle I
The scream had come from an Uchiha who had fled his could see the ANBU surrounding him. His mind gave him numerous options to follow through on. He went with the only one that made sense. He ran in between the Uchiha and the ANBU. A clash rang out as Itachi's sword met the ANBU's.
"Go try to find others and escape. I'll do what I can here." He told the Uchiha. It was too late for his family, but if he could do anything, he would. The man regained his composure. Itachi was far from composed however.
"Thank you." He bowed and ran off, leaving Itachi to deal with the ANBU members. The world shifted, and Itachi found himself facing off against a large mob. They were a mass of indistinguishable bodies to Itachi, ready to try and kill him. Words scrolled through his vision:
Endurance Battle: Survive as long as possible to let the others escape.
A timer flashed across the top of Itachi's vision:
3:00
2:59
3 minutes he'd have to survive.
His journey through to the compound had drained him of about a quarter of his new reserves. He took a note of the time that had passed. Something about the battle cleared his mind.
2:55
Was it just him or did the timer feel a bit sluggish? He watched it with his Sharingan.
2:54
He'd been afraid of that. There was a delay between the second changing, like each second to his power was slightly longer than a normal first wave of attacks came. Itachi scrolled through his menus and selected Block from among them.
Normally he disliked using it, as he always wanted fights to be over as soon as possible. It also drained his Action Bar, leaving him without an attack option. A few tossed shuriken hit him.
-5 HP (Block)
Then came the sword.
-12 HP (Block)
And out came a basic water jutsu.
Guard Break!
-30 HP
Itachi cursed. He was still above half health by a comfortable margin, but the Guard Break had not been good. He hadn't ever taken the time to familiarize himself with how it worked.
2:49
An attack cycle for every 8 seconds, and about 1 second per attack. It would be foolish to assume that they'd only use those three attacks for the rest of the battle. Even if they did, Itachi wouldn't make it past the one minute mark.
2:45
Itachi's Action Bar was ready. He went through his menus.
Genjutsu
Crow Storm
If he couldn't survive by blocking perhaps he could debilitate them for a while. The genjutsu hit the three opponents, leaving them with Paralyzed.
Immediately the three members were dragged back into the thriving mass of ANBU and replaced. Not good.
2:43
Itachi couldn't afford to continually use genjutsu on them. He'd be finished long before the timer ran down. The good news is that he'd gotten a brief moment to think, although he'd already come to a conclusion. He had to fight.
2:39
Itachi decided it'd be best to try and kill off any he could to stop them from attack. He scrolled through his skills:
Skills
Flurry of Kunai
Skill Failed. You lack the necessary equipment.
Itachi checked his inventory. He'd squandered the majority of his kunai on the fight with Danzo. He switched tactics, instead resorting to Kunai Stab. He had already been forced to take a more conservative approach.
2:36
To Itachi's surprise the simple stab had reduced the ANBU's health to a mere quarter of his max. Apparently ROOT members were far tougher than ANBU. Or maybe it was a part of this mob battle. Itachi's victory was short lived though. The soldier fled into the blob of ANBU and was replaced.
2:35
The blows from the ANBU struck harder without Itachi Blocking to absorb the damage.
-10 HP
-24 HP
Itachi's health had sunk to the halfway mark. Though without the third link, it seemed that the combo was much weaker. This wasn't a battle of brute force, it was a battle of knowing which opponent he needed to down next.
2:33
He felled the first of the three, forcing him to retreat. If he was fast enough, he might even be able to interrupt one of the other attacks. He knew now that he didn't need to bother with anything stronger than a basic attack, which offered a small comfort.
2:30
The ANBU leaped back into the crowd. Itachi tensed with preparation. A man identified as a ROOT member jumped into the fray.
2:29
Itachi didn't hesitate. His Dual Slash came out.
Blocked!
-15 HP
-20 HP
He'd been caught unaware. The attack did only a decent amount of damage, lacking the third hit to break through the others guard. He could only wait. He didn't want to pull out another big technique in case it was met with another block.
2:25
Itachi went with a simple Slash. There was no resistance this time. However, the ROOT member was plenty sturdy enough, and it knocked his health down only to about half. A second later Itachi felt the bite of the counterattack.
-30 HP
It wasn't the best to be below half health, but Itachi felt he could still manage. He just needed to get the ROOT member out of the battle. He waited.
2:21
The ROOT member was left with just under a quarter of his health.
2:20
Three ANBU members leapt from the throng to join up with the ROOT member. Except, he immediately left with his life in danger. A fourth ANBU replaced him. This was worrying. He'd been fairly confident in his ability to handle three at a time. But four was pushing it.
2:17
The only good news was that he'd recovered some of his chakra. Enough to spare on something that would wipe the other side of the field, however temporarily.
Grand Fireball Jutsu!
The Uchiha's signature jutsu tore through the four unlucky ANBU members. Immediately they fled back into the crowd. Four leapt out, undeterred by what they'd just seen. It felt pointless but Itachi was grateful for anything that kept him alive longer.
2:13
Itachi didn't want to risk letting loose with another powerful move so soon. Instead he let his chakra recover. There wasn't much he could do with his basic moves. Although he could still stop their chain from getting too high.
You're beginning to feel exhausted.
That wasn't good. It effectively hindered all of his stats. He wouldn't be pulling out attacks as fast or as hard.
2:09
The ANBU attacked.
-14 HP
-27 HP
-18 HP
-18 HP
As he'd thought, the ANBU were getting more ferocious now. The last one had hit him with a dual hit jutsu. Itachi didn't care what it was, just that he had to stop it. His health was starting to look not so great.
2:05
The good news was that he still just barely held the advantage. He could attack twice for their every one round. He put in a preventive stab, sending the first of the four enemies. Then he waited.
2:00
Again the ANBU leapt away to make room for the ROOT member. Itachi didn't mess around this time. He flung out a volley of Shuriken. Shuriken Blitz! Where his Dual Slah failed, the shuriken were too numerous to be stopped by blocking. It was his penultimate volley available to him.
The ROOT member was torn to shreds, and he fled. Itachi prepared himself as five ANBU members replaced the sole ROOT one. He was beginning to hate the throng.
1:56
Itachi stabbed the first of the ANBU. He could stop himself from getting horribly injured from at least one more round of attacks.
1:51
Itachi sent the second packing. He could only wait to see the damage inflicted upon him.
1:50
-15 HP
-28 HP
-20 HP
-20 HP
He was glad that he had his power at this moment. Otherwise he was sure that he'd be miserable with the number of wounds inflicted upon him. These ANBU were stronger, but only just. He frowned slightly at his health. It laid just barely over a quarter.
1:46
Itachi looked to his chakra. It was recovering slowly. Too slowly. He was beginning to feel his options slip away from him. He attacked the immediate threat, ANBU #1.
1:41
He had another opening. He went for one of the ANBU in what had been the three link chain. He could at least stop him. But it came at a price. The second ANBU in the lineup attacked him.
-15 HP
It bumped him down to below a quarter. A faint, blinking red light near his HP indicated he was near critical condition. He looked back at the throng of ANBU. His hate for it grew. Agitation clawed at the corners of his mind, and a smolder of hate appeared.
1:40
The other ANBU, numbers 3 and 5, lashed out.
-15 HP
-28 HP
It was better than the last time. But it still wasn't good. The faint red light began blinking more urgently at him. Soon he'd be in the critical condition.
1:38
The ANBU in the first position had yet to touch Itachi, and he made sure of it as he sent him back to the throng of indistinguishable ANBU. The smolder of hate was rapidly rising into an inferno. He wouldn't be in so much danger without it constantly replacing the ANBU.
1:33
Itachi lashed out at the ANBU who would've attacked him. A second later, the two ANBU who'd worked together earlier attacked.
-15 HP
-28 HP
A siren cut through Itachi's thoughts. He was in critical condition now. Two more rounds and he'd be finished.
1:30
The ROOT member showed up, and pressed the advantage.
-40 HP
Itachi felt panic seep into his chest. One hit left. His chakra was still low. He could use his shuriken, but then what? He'd be cut down if he didn't devote his chakra to field wiping moves, something he could only do for maybe another 50 seconds.
1:28
Itachi hesitated.
1:27
Anything he'd do would ruin him. He only was offered a choice in the when.
1:26
This ROOT member was stronger than his previous iterations. He didn't care that he was about to kill someone. Itachi watched the name of his attack flash across his vision.
Earth Shattering Strike!
His Mangekyou Sharingan instinctively whirled into existence. Time slowed to a crawl. He could see the nameless member crossing the distance between them. His eye showed him the exact path his fist would take, right up until it collided with him.
There was nothing he could do.
"No." A single voice called out to Itachi. It came from the pits of the inferno of hate in his gut. He'd almost forgotten about it.
"No," it repeated. "What about your your mother? Your father? Izumi? Shisui? The Clan? What about Sasuke?" It was goading him. The flames turned black in his stomach.
"Would you leave Danzo unmarred?" It continued. "Let him get away with dooming the clan?"
Itachi was starting to see it now. The black flames parted. Orange lines of flame traced a shape within the sea of black. Ribs. Arms. A skull. Itachi reached for it.
"Good." The voice told him. "Go!"
Itachi roared. The world bent before him. The ethereal orange skeleton he'd seen exploded forth from him. The world returned to what it should've been. Already the mob of ANBU and ROOT were backing away.
Text scrolled through his vision.
There are still some left. Keep them distracted.
1:30
Right where he'd left off. He had plenty of chakra. His health didn't matter anymore. There were still people he could save, and he would do everything he could.