Jiraiya was at one of his favorite open-air baths, peeking at the unsuspecting naked maidens bathing in its waters below when suddenly, he felt a terrifying bloodlust. He stood from his hidden position on the cliffs just above the aforementioned building and turned in the direction where the bloodlust came from. Even the kunoichi on the baths also sensed it and quickly ran to the change into their clothes and got out of the building. He didn’t wait for them though as he sped and jumped from roofs to roofs, clicking his tongue on the possible meaning of this bloodlust. Especially when he knew who was the probable owner.

He increased his speed when he felt ground-shaking tremors, shaking the ground and buildings, causing panic among the populace that he passed. Then as he got near, he saw the abrupt appearance of a large dome of dark water. Jiraiya knew that it is some kind of water prison. Then he met Sarutobi and several ANBU who were also on their way to the location.

"Sensei, what's going on?!"

"I will inform you as we go. We must make haste!" Sarutobi led the way and Jiraiya followed. The old monkey had only one leg and a fake one but it didn't seem to hinder him in any other way in speeding across the roofs.

As they leap through the streets and structures, Jiraiya asked again which was answered by an ANBU that accompanied them.

"Jiraiya-sama, Konoha have intruders. They were wearing black cloaks with red clouds.”

"Akatsuki!" Jiraiya knew those cloaks then asked. "How many?"

"Two apparently, however, we still do not know if there are more inside the village. And we have identified the two intruders as Hoshigaki Kisame of the Mist and Uchiha Itachi." The ANBU replied.

"What?!" Hearing the name of two missing-nins in the Bingo Book was already bad enough to be the village’s intruders.

"It seems that their objective was Naruto." Sarutobi also added. "Just like what your information had told us."

Fuck. Jiraiya hissed inwardly. But his frustration died down when he heard the next line.

"Harissen-san engaged the two intruders as a result." Sarutobi could see how his former student had a wide-open mouth in shock.

"No matter how he singlehandedly repelled the Sunagakure invasion, it is never the same against S-class criminals!" Jiraiya exclaimed. Itachi alone was a big problem itself as the person who wiped out one of the most powerful clans in Konoha in just a single night.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Itachi is currently engaged with the Jounins and ANBU." Sarutobi added. "But we lost our eyes and ears on the situation from the ensuing chaos. That large dome of water was the last known location of Naruto and his uncle while fighting the Mist Shinobi."

"I didn't expect they would make their move this early," Jiraiya said.

Then as they approached several hundred meters away from the dome, they saw a bright light illuminating the dark sphere. It kept expanding.

Sarutobi immediately sensed danger and commanded those with him.

"Take cover!"

And it exploded, blasting the entire water prison and causing hot mud to rain across the village. Sarutobi spun Enma to block the incoming mud and water. Jiraiya used his long mane to shield himself while the ANBU used various techniques to block and parry these sudden rain for several seconds.

It rained for several seconds then when it cleared, they immediately proceeded to the blast zone.

They arrived at the area that seemed to have been cleared of buildings, trees, and structures. It’s as if, a jutsu had swallowed everything around on this place, leaving the only wet ground. Sarutobi sighed and almost got a headache on the possible cost of the rebuilding of this place.

"Search the perimeter!" Sarutobi ordered, then the ANBU spread out. Searching for any survivors or traces of the battle that they could inspect and investigate. Although the rain kept pouring in and probably washed away any imprints on the battle, they could still find something to know more about the detail of the skirmish.

Then Jiraiya found something.

“Sensei. I think I found one.” He yelled. Which Sarutobi followed his voice and landed beside him. Jiraiya crouched to the ground and pointed at the peculiar tracks on the ground. Claw marks on the mud that was near a small crater. They immediately recognized the owner of these dragon tracks. “Damn, he really did make a new clearing out of the place.”

“From the traces of the chakra that was used here and that crater, it seemed that Harissen-san was able to defeat the user of the water prison. From the burnt smell lingering here, his enemy must have been roasted alive.” Jiraiya licked his index finger and pointed it to the raining sky. Trying to sense any lingering chakra. “Then Naruto and others were taken in that direction. It’s the same direction where our resident dragon went also.”

“Then let’s head that way.” Sarutobi nodded then turned to the ANBU operatives. “I want you to thoroughly search the area. Take notes on what happened and try to find if there are civilians that got involved here.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.” one of the captains nodded.

And with that, Jiraiya and his teacher disappeared.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Itachi finally finished himself with Kakashi. The information was still something else entirely.

Although Kakashi stubbornly refused to say anything at first, the White Fang's heir finally relented after Itachi used his most painful memory to destroy his will. Where he was forced to relive how his former friends died in front of him and how he failed in each try. It was enough for Kakashi to break down. Without any resistance, every information he knew about the foreigner was revealed to Itachi.

And after the almost endless hours of mental and emotional torture. Kakashi was finally released from the genjutsu and fell on his knees like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Kakashi!" Gai was the first to notice and caught his friend as he fell.

Then they also noticed that Itachi had disappeared. ANBU were able to follow Itachi and disappeared to track him down. Leaving the four Jounins behind.

His fellow Jounins worriedly went to cover for him and regretted how they let themselves get distracted. It was just seconds of misdirection but enough for Itachi to cast Genjutsu. At first, they thought Kakashi had fainted but then they realized his wide-open eyes.

"He's been attacked by a genjutsu. We need to take him immediately to the Medical Treatment Center." Kurenai tapped Kakashi's forehead then sensed the disturbed chakra and traces of a genjutsu.

“Damn it.” Gai cursed then lifted up Kakashi and carried him on his back. “I will take Kakashi to be treated. You get to Itachi.”

Asuma and Kurenai nodded. Then both disappeared as they followed where the ANBU went.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Inside the safety of the ward, Sasuke, Naruto, and Iruka saw how the massive explosion destroyed the water prison just after they escaped. They were already far from the said watery mud prison but still took some splashes of hot fried mud. Thankfully, they were protected by the ward as they were being carried to a nearby safety.

They landed on top of a building where the ward spell disappeared. Relieved that their feet were back again to the ground. It was their first time to be elevated on the sky, that long. Hard breathes and coughs sounded on the three of them while their three saviors were still on guard. Iruka still has a lot of mud on his throat and tried to cough them out.

Then several ANBU showed up near them, making the three summons immediately grow restless. The

“Enemies?” the old warrior asked in Tamrielic language. The two spectral guards of Naruto also moved in to protect the person they were tasked with.

Hakon wasn’t able to enjoy the fight earlier due to the unknown and strange Jutsus that restricted him. His enjoyment was killed and interrupted early before he could unleash so he was still teeming with energy to tear some flesh. He rubbed the sharp end of his large ax with his armor as if sharpening it. Then prepared to use a Thu’um.

The Konoha ANBU also sensed the sudden spike of hostility from Hakon and the two specters. They were not informed of any unfamiliar friendly summons and assumed these three that surrounded Naruto were involved with the attack. Both sides were making a grave misunderstanding that the other were collaborators with the intruders. The ANBU team assumed combat stances and prepared to cast jutsu at a moment's notice.

“Wait!!”

Hakon was about to jump and cut off all of their heads when Naruto put himself in the middle and stopped him. Iruka also stood and stopped the ANBU from attacking them.

“What are you doing?! They are not enemies!” Naruto yelled towards his three protectors. Explaining and trying to introduce the ANBU.

The old warrior only tilted his head while the two specters were still on guard. Slowly coming into the realization that his words were not even entering their ears, Naruto remembered the foreign and strange words they uttered earlier. So they probably cannot understand him. Iruka himself was busy explaining with the ANBU about their benefactors.

“They were summoned by someone I know. An uncle of my student. With the name Conrad Harissen.” Iruka frantically explained to the ANBU captain. He thought that mentioning the name of the summoner, who was probably being guarded by their fellow ANBU would make these operatives understand the situation. “Do not worry, they are not dangerous to us. They previously saved us and are just trying to protect us.”

“U-umm… Friends… t-they… us… no fight… see? That man… with me... no fight... with them.” Conrad's nephew tried using simple gestures to break the language barrier between them, after knowing that these three don't speak their language. Naruto was practically begging on no one internally that his words would be understood.

Fortunately, it worked. Hakon was not that dumb in not knowing the meaning of those gestures even if he couldn’t understand their language. Seeing how the other side was pacified by someone they protected earlier, he fully apprehended that these new people who just arrived were friendlies.

He showed his neutral stance to them by resting his two-handed ax back to his shoulders, which was followed by the two specters. Still, their weapons remained on their claws and circled Naruto once again. Iruka and his student finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the summons of Naruto’s uncle, sheathed their hostility. But remained cautious to the ANBU.

“Where is the summoner, Conrad Harissen then?” the captain asked. While surveying the strange summons.

“He left us under the protection of these summons while he engaged the Mist-nin.” Iruka answered.

“Hm.” The ANBU captain nodded and turned to his team. “Two come with me and you four, escort these people to safety outside the perimeter.”

The captain intricately instructed Iruka and his students on where to proceed for their safey and how the situation was now being investigated.

“Where-” Iruka was about to ask something when a screeching radio noise interrupted him.

A transmission was heard from their captain’s radio. It was inaudible to Naruto and Iruka. But for Sasuke who was still on high alert with his heightened senses, he heard it as clear as day, especially when it mentioned the name of his cursed brother. His sharingan was shaking in frustration and anger on his failure earlier.

He remembered the contents of the radio message and disappeared without Naruto and Iruka noticing him before it was too late.

It was Naruto who realized their missing companion in the group first.

“Wait… Where is Sasuke?” Naruto asked Iruka whom he thought knew the answer.

But his teacher realized that his other student had disappeared after hearing that transmission. The ANBU team also felt the use of chakra. All of them of course recognized the missing child. It was the only living survivor of the Uchiha in Konoha.

“What was the message?!” Iruka asked the captain with worry.

“It mentioned the direction where Uchiha Itachi was heading to.” He replied.

“Damn it! That boy really!” Iruka cursed.

Then Naruto, upon hearing where his friend was going to, he ran but was stopped by two specters. Hakon grabbed the back of his upper clothes to stop Naruto from running away. He tried slapping the gripping hands but his effort fell to empty air. The ghostly state of the old warrior did not let him escape.

“Let go of me! Let go!” Naruto yelled. Trying to struggle from the ghostly hold.

“Sorry boy, but the Dragonborn tasked us in guarding you. So you stay here until he returns.” Hakon spoke in his foreign language which was gibberish to Naruto and the Konoha Shinobi. He sighed in the consistent scream and yell of the child.

“Naruto, I know-” Iruka was about to calm his student when Naruto made hand signs.

“Kagebunshin no jutsu!”

Naruto disappeared from Hakon’s hand with a puff of smoke and hundreds of him appeared.

“Oh shit-”

Hakon and the two specters failed to anticipate this from the dragonborn’s nephew. Iruka tried to stop his student but was too late.

“Now, we run!” echoed by his clones before splitting in different directions, confusing his three guards and the ANBU team.

“This is going to be a pain in the neck.” Hakon sighed. Gave up in trying to make up some excuse later.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Sasuke could still feel the pain he felt earlier from his brother. The main reason why he became a shinobi and tried to become strong was now at his reach. If he could just land a fatal strike… one good stab, then he would finally end the man who ruined his life… his family… his clan.

Such thought made him smile with devilish delight. He followed the direction that he heard from the ANBU’s radio and arrived at the location. But he found no one.

“Damn it!” he kicked the ground in anger.

Was he already late?

No, there must be some tracks left behind.

Sasuke went to scour the surrounding for quick clues. Then noticed something. There was blood on the ground. As he turned to the next corner to trace it, he found few bodies of ANBU.

Perhaps he was not too late. He sped up, following the trail of bloodied bodies. From building to building, he leaped. The freezing rain and strong winds didn’t stop him. His burning desire for vengeance could never be quenched by such cold. After several minutes of being guided by tracks of violence, it led him to the top wall of the village. Using the trees and rocks on the cliffs as a shortcut, he found his prey on top.

“Itachi.” He cursed. There he discovered his brother surrounded by another set of bodies of Konoha Shinobi. He also saw the fallen state of Kurenai and Asuma who were lying on the ground.

Then he rushed towards Itachi who just slashed the last of his ANBU pursuers. With a chidori, he aimed at his brother’s unguarded neck. But it fell to empty air and flock of ravens. Instead, he felt something that grabbed his hand, a kick in the gut, and was thrown to the ground which caused him to cough in his own saliva.

“…” Itachi did not fail to notice the healed arm of his younger brother which he broke earlier. Something that made him curious about how it was fixed that quickly. Then he turned his eyes to Sasuke who was glaring and snarling at him.

“I will kill you! I will kill you!”

Itachi responded only with indifference to his brother’s declaration.

“You truly are a fool, little brother. You can never defeat me with how weak you are now.” Itachi said with his cold voice. The same voice Sasuke heard on that bloody night. “Let me show you what true power is.”

With several rapid knee kicks in the gut, Sasuke coughed in blood. He felt splitting pain on his chest and difficulty in breathing. He could feel how Itachi broke some of his ribs. And then he was forced to look into his brother’s eyes.

He saw how the red eyes of his accursed brother swallowed him then fell to a seemingly unending abyss of death and torture. Itachi just gave him another nightmare to haunt him and broke the two arms of his brother once again, causing the latter to cry and scream.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

By the time Naruto arrived, Itachi was holding Sasuke on the ground and his friend screaming in pain. He could see the helpless struggle of Sasuke from being choked out of breath by a strong grip. And the dangling broken arms of Sasuke.

Such sight made his eyes turned red and his vision turned black with rage.

“Kagebunshin no jutsu!” with gritting teeth, he quickly summoned more clones into the fight and leaped to Itachi with kunai on their hands.

However, Itachi caught the original on his throat. Not even taking an effort to dodge and just grabbed Naruto from among the clones with his spare hand that wasn’t holding Sasuke. This caused the clones to disappear into a puff of smoke.

Seeing that he was already done with Sasuke, Itachi now turned his eyes to Naruto. He will send him also to the world of pain and suffering.

But before the genjutsu could be cast, Itachi sensed an incoming danger and conjured another jutsu instead. But in doing so, he dropped Naruto and lost his hold over Sasuke then flew at a distance when something struck him. He landed with a blast of dust and cracked the upper part of the wall on impact.

A humanoid dragon’s claw kicked Itachi.

Fortunately, Conrad was able to arrive just in time. He used Time Slow to catch up to his stupid nephew who refused to stay with his guardians. Still, such strike was not something a high-level battlemage could block, unless… he was also on the same level as that shark bastard. At the time his kick landed, he felt that something shielded the enemy. This man was able to catch his attack in time and cast some sort of defensive spell while affected by the slowing world. Something that even that humanoid shark that he took down was never able to achieve.

He used his two lower back wings to wrap Naruto and Sasuke with them, covering them under its protection. His stupid seemed to have nephew fainted, however, was fortunately fine in seeing him take a few breaths. But his friend on the other hand needed treatment immediately. With his dragonic eyes, he could see that the child had two broken arms, a bad injury in the chest and finally, could feel that the child was being attacked mentally. The same feeling as to how daedric possessions do to mortals.

He used his upper wings to cast a healing spell on the child. It healed the broken arms and from what he sensed, broken ribs. His spell was able to fix the bad injuries but no matter how high the quality of the spell was, whether, for a curse, poison, or injury, it doesn’t seem to work to the child’s mental state. He was still shivering and struggling on something, like how someone would act when having a nightmare. This also reminded him of the painful headaches he had previously after his stupid brother put something on his mind.

Whereas, Itachi wiped the blood from his nose. He was protected from dragon kick by some sort of giant skeletal rib. Then when Conrad focused his sight on the enemy, he noticed a large skeleton-like figure that was surrounded by ghostly red flames. It appeared to be similar to his dragon aspect. It was only showing half of its body, enveloping the cloaked man, as if protecting him.

The Uchiha kinslayer was surprised to see the damage on his ‘protective shroud’. And to think that he was forced to reveal one of his trump cards from just a kick. It was only thanks to his mangekyou sharingan that he caught the surprise attack before it could land and cast his most powerful tool in time. Although he had to admit that he failed to sense it in time to avoid it due to its time-breaking speed.

Susanoo… a near-divine protective shroud that could shield its caster from any form of assault.

The ultimate armor for those Uchiha who unlocked the secrets of the sharingan.

But… not even his Susanoo was able to resist the damage it took from that attack. He could see the large cracks on where the kick had landed earlier. Something that impressed Itachi and made it obvious for him that the dragon in front of him was not an average opponent. This damage could only be fixed by recasting his Susanoo as it cannot regenerate. However, knowing the quick wit, speed, and decisiveness of his opponent, Itachi knew that it was not possible.

If he is here, then he must have taken out Kisame. Itachi thought while thinking about all scenarios on how he will fight Conrad. Kisame was not a typical S-class criminal. Itachi knew the capability and prowess of his partner. That’s why he was selected as Uchiha’s companion on Akatsuki’s missions in the first place. And from what he could see, Itachi saw no injury or even a single scratch from his enemy. Making it easy to notice how the man took the fight against Kisame.

His partner previously thought that the man in front of Itachi was a jinchuuriki. And it was not an overstatement. Seeing how it appeared similar to a demon cloak that was usually used by most jinchuuriki. It truly felt like he was fighting a first-rate shinobi with the power of a bijuu.

But Itachi knew that it wasn’t, there were only nine tailed beasts and none of them had a form of a dragon.

This was something else.

Conrad was now having second thoughts. He still had to wait for seconds before he could cast another Thu’um and he didn’t want to be in the same situation he had earlier where he caused his nephew to be in danger due to not considering the power and extent of these strange foreign spells. First that mud sphere and now this strange ward of the skeleton.

He was cautious now more than ever to avoid repeating that same mistake.

Before he could decide on what to do, Itachi cast a genjutsu unto him. The mangekyou sharingan turned and dragged the Dragonborn into another world. Which caused him to fall into the depths of darkness and found himself back on his human form and was crucified. Surrounded by countless enemies armed with long blades. A black and white world.

Conrad tried to struggle out of his crucified situation but to no avail. He tried using spells and the Thu’um of becoming ethereal to escape but those also failed.

“I see…” The dragonborn was able to make an assumption that this was probably an illusionary world. Similar to how Vaermina haunts mortals on dreams and nightmares. And this was probably the same world where that child was sent into.

The Uchiha was looking at Conrad in studying eyes. The man was quite calm despite that he was dragged into his genjutsu. But it doesn’t matter, Itachi himself had a lot of questions. He had a lot of time to ask about that later. In this world, he could freely interrogate anyone without restriction. He had seventy-two hours to ask his queries whereas in the real world, only a second had passed.

From what Kakashi had told him, this man was the long-lost uncle of Naruto. Something that confirmed his suspicion on why he had the same face as the Fourth Hokage. And this man came from a foreign distant continent. That info alone will make everything complicated than ever.

First, he needed to know the true identity of the man from himself, second was to ask his reason why he came to Elemental Nations. He needed answers, in order for his future plan to succeed with this new disturbance that already stirred up the waves.

“Who are you? And what-”

But before Itachi could continue asking, the genjutsu was suddenly being overpowered by a foreign entity… no, it was more than one. He could sense thousands of existence were seemingly trying to overwhelm him from the control of this world.

Itachi could feel the slow breaking of the world where he was the master and its creator. He struggled to resist it. Then the space and time in his genjutsu broke down. The entire plane he had dominion over, shattered. Instead, he was the one who was sent into the dark void. Itachi tried casting jutsu or even his trusted technique in escaping genjutsu, yet failed to escape in time before he was swallowed by the dark swirling abyss and… he sunk.

Amidst the darkness and drowning feeling, six large eyes in its depths, opened, staring at him.

“I am the Lastborn of Space and Time. No World could bound me.” A rumbling echoing voice invaded his mind and then, large claws enveloped him.

Then Itachi woke up with beads of sweat all over his body. He was forced to kneel on his one foot just to stop himself from fainting. His breathing immediately went haggard and rough. It was only a second that they spent on that genjutsu and yet, he felt that he spent years in that broken world instead. It’s not like the mental torture he would cast on his genjutsu. But what happened was like being eternally trapped in an unending dark ocean with no end in sight. He travailed in just keeping up his Susanoo alone after that failed genjutsu.

Conrad on the other hand became curious about what just happened. The man was able to enter his mind and trap him. First Minato and now the man in front of him. This continent had a basketful of potentially dangerous spells that could be riskier in the long run. He made another mental note about this. The old man of this village should prepare himself for thousands of questions.

But at the same time, this continent also had a lot of things to know about how people survived the dangerous continent of Tamriel. Something like this was an everyday occurrence to Conrad way back when he just discovered his status as a dragonborn and was frequently visited or tempted by Daedric Princes. This was laughably soft in comparison to Vaermina’s nightmares or the madness that he felt when he faced the mad god, Sheogorath.

Seconds before he could use a shout again, his opponent limply jumped back to the end of the wall. Then disappeared on the trees below, outside the walls of the city. With his nephew in tow and a child that needs immediate attention, he decided to prioritize them first and flew back to the center of the village.

This issue cannot be left unattended. For the future safety of Naruto, his uncle had to prepare for a hunt.