𝘿𝙍𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 - Max Mayfield

53. Echoes Of The Upside Down Pt. 2

'Amaterasu'

Itachi's eyes snapped open and immediately black flames spawned to life seemingly out of thin air, colliding with Aiden's orange flames.

The teenager's eyes widened at the sight of the familiar technique. "Shit.. how could I forget?!"

Within seconds,it seemed like the black flames started to eat away at Aiden's flames rather quickly. Once the orange flames were gone,the black fire of Amaterasu started racing towards Aiden himself, causing the ninja to teleport out of the flame's path.

'This nutcase is really bent on making Itachi kill me' Aiden breathed out as he appeared behind Itachi. A millisecond before the 21 year old could look behind him, Aiden slammed a rasengan into his back as hard as he could, immediately sending him skidding across the ground.

Itachi stood to his feet slowly,eyes still fixed on Aiden as the trail of blood from his eyes stayed on his cheek. "You're quite sharp.. you really are putting your knowledge to good use"

"Arigato" Aiden nodded to the Uchiha before he felt his energy levels suddenly reduce and he dropped to one knee.

Aiden let out a shocked breath.. Sage Mode had shut itself off.

Just perfect.

"Brace yourself, Aiden," Itachi warned. "He's about to dig even deeper into my arsenal"

Aiden furrowed his eyebrows for a second. Orochimaru had all of Itachi's techniques at his disposal,all of which were highly deadly. He wondered which one the snake was planning to make him use.

Aiden's question was immediately answered as he started to notice something around Itachi.. his Chakra was becoming visible and flaring around him.. bright orange.

"Oh shit!" Aiden's eyes went wide as he immediately knew what was about to happen.

"Aiden!" A voice cut through the relative silence of the upside down, catching the attention of both ninjas just as the flare of chakra was about to take shape.

They turned to see Nancy not far away, with Steve Robin and Eddie behind her. All teenagers looked completely shocked and bewildered at the sight to say the least.

That split second of distraction was all Aiden needed as he immediately teleported right in front of Itachi, sending his foot into the Uchiha's chin as hard as he could. Once he was in the air,the younger ninja immediately leapt after him, sending Itachi back to the ground with a scissor kick.

Immediately summoning about four clones,Aiden pounced on the Uchiha with each clone having a pair of kunai in hand, effectively pinning Itachi's body to the ground with them.

"It's not chakra rods but it'll have to do" Aiden breathed out.

Nancy and the others started to run and make their way to him but he immediately noticed.

"Nancy, stay back!" He yelled.

"What?!"

"Keep your distance!" He clarified. "There's something I need to do"

"Aiden, hurry" Itachi reminded the boy as he could feel his body involuntarily fighting against the restrictions.

Looking at Itachi's immobilised form, he noticed the kunais starting to shake as Itachi's chakra once again started to flare up. He needed to do this fast.

"Let's get you out of there, Itachi," Aiden exhaled.

Closing his eyes, Aiden brought his hands together and formed a set of hand signs:

Snake, Boar,Ram,Hare,Dog,Rat,Bird,Horse and snake again before bringing his palms together and placing his right hand on Itachi's back.

"Soul-body Separation"

A red circular seal appeared underneath the spot where Itachi was pinned, looking similar in shape to the right trigrams seal that was imprinted on Naruto's midsection. Aiden then shaped his hands into the tiger hand sign, causing the seal to glow brighter and brighter until it looked almost like a spotlight directly under Itachi's body.

"What the hell..." Robin whispered at the sight. The others were no less shocked. What kind of sorcery was this?

Within seconds, Itachi's body seemed to slowly start flaking away,but not before he spoke to the younger ninja.

"Thank you, Aiden.. I can sense the will of fire deep within you, " Uchiha smiled. "I believe you can handle whatever Orochimaru and Vecna have planned. But stay on your toes.. they're both cunning and would do anything to get you out of their way"

"You're welcome," Aiden nodded. "I should be thanking you.. it's not everyday I get to talk to a legendary Uchiha. Even if you tried to burn me alive"

"I wish I could've helped with your struggle" Itachi sighed before looking up at him. "But perhaps there is another way I could assist"

Before Aiden would ask what he meant, Itachi's Sharingan started to spin in an almost hypnotic way. Aiden was alarmed at first but remembered genjutsu didn't have much of an effect on him and he could easily break out. Still, looking into Itachi's eyes made him lightheaded and almost dizzy enough to lose his balance.

"What was that?" Aiden looked at him.

"You'll find out in a few minutes" Itachi smiled warmly. "it's a parting gift from me"

By this point Itachi's body was starting to completely disintegrate. "Farewell, Aiden.. We're all watching"

"Say hi to Jiraiya for me" Aiden smiled and waved as what was left of Itachi's body faded away and only his clothes remained.

"Denny!" Nancy and the others immediately ran to the boy's position,the older Wheeler pulling her brother into a hug. "You made me so worried!"

"What was with that guy?" Steve asked.

"And what did you do to him?" Robin added.

Before any of their questions could reach him,Aiden felt his eyes sting, as if hot liquids had been poured into them. "Fuck!"

The boy held his eyes as the burning got more intense and spread throughout his head.

"Aiden! What's wrong?!" Nancy turned to make him look at her but the boy was in too much pain.

A few seconds later,the burning pain settled right in the middle of his brain and seemed to fade out just as quick as it started.

Once it'd subsided, Aiden finally breathed out,still holding on to Nancy.

"You okay?" Nancy cooed, earning a nod from the boy who still had his face buried in her shoulder. Slowly Aiden pulled away and wiped the tears that built up in his eyes from the experience.

"Aiden..." Nancy made him look at her again to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Your eyes..."

"What's wrong with them?" Aiden tried to blink to see if his eyes were still good.

"Your Sharingan's back" Nancy cracked a little smile. "And this time it's both eyes"

Aiden was stunned. "Are you sure it's the Sharingan?"

Steve got closer to him to see for himself. "Oh,yeah it's red just like the crow's"

"Can someone explain this?" Eddie finally aired his confusion.

"In simple terms,"  Robin said. "Ninja boy over here now has magic eyes"

"So this is the gift Itachi talked about..." Aiden mumbled.

'Yes,yes it is'

Aiden froze.

"Did you guys say something?" Aiden looked around. They all shook their heads.

'in here,' the voice came again. 

Aiden couldn't control the smile on his face as the familiarity of the voice finally sank in. It wasn't who he was expecting... It was even better.

"Minato Sensei!"