Julian quickly propped himself against a tree and slid down until he was sitting on the ground.
He held his head with both hands as a flood of memories that did not belong to him rushed into his mind.
The memories covered twelve years of life though the first couple of years were mostly blank the way early childhood often is.
He sat still and let every remaining memory of Itachi Uchiha pass through him that lasted a couple of hours.
He saw what Itachi felt when his father took him to the battlefield during the Third Great Shinobi War.
The young boy had been far too small for the sights and sounds of real war yet his father had insisted that an Uchiha needed to understand War.
Julian felt the heavy weight of fear that had sat in Itachis chest that day mixed with a desperate wish to make his father proud.
He felt the exact moment when Itachis father forced him to kill his first person.
The memory carried the sharp shock of taking a life and the quiet way Itachi had forced himself to accept it because that was what an Uchiha was expected to do.
He also had promised dhimself that he would become a great shinobi and stop all wars.
He felt the sudden hatred that burned inside Itachi when one of his genin teammates was killed on a mission.
That hatred had been strong enough to awaken the Sharingan for the first time.
The pain of watching a friend die while being unable to stop it had carved itself deep into the boys heart.
Julian also felt the soft and careful love that filled Itachi the first time he held his baby brother Sasuke in his arms.
That love had grown every day and had become the centre of everything Itachi valued.
He felt the simple happiness that came when Itachi ate sweet dangos or talked quietly with Izumi or trained under the trees with Shisui.
Julian felt the helplessness that crushed Itachi during the Nine Tails attack when he could do nothing useful to protect the village.
The memory carried the bitter taste of watching destruction while being too young and too weak to change the outcome.
He felt the sadness that followed when people in the village began to ostracize the entire Uchiha clan after the attack.
People who once smiled at him, now looked away from him.
He felt the crushing pressure that settled on Itachi when the Uchiha clan began planning a coup against the village leadership.
The boy had been forced to listen to talk of war against the same village he had sworn to protect.
Julian felt the sharp guilt of betrayal that came when Itachi reported the plans to the Hokage.
Itachi had believed he was choosing the path that would save the most lives yet the act still felt like a knife turned against his own family.
He felt the raw anger that rose when he first saw the wounds on Shisuis body.
The sight of his closest friend broken and bleeding had filled him with a rage that almost matched the love he held for that friend.
Finally he felt the complete despair that swallowed Itachi when Shisui stepped off the cliff and disappeared into the river below.
That despair had been so heavy that the boys mind had simply broken under its weight.
After the last memory faded Julian sat quietly against the tree for a long time.
The flood of feelings slowly settled and he managed to feel calm again.
He spoke in a low voice while looking at the empty space in front of him.
“Itachi huh.
I guess we do have a lot in common with our love for our brothers.
You spent your whole short life trying to protect Sasuke the same way I spent mine trying to protect Justin.
That kind of love is something I understand better than most people ever will.” Julian could not understand how such a pure hearted kid could ever slaughter his own clan and his own parents.
The idea simply did not make sense to him.
Why would someone who loved so deeply choose to do something so terrible.
Julian could still feel the love Itachi held for Sasuke.
It was just as deep as the love Julian himself held for Justin.
And yet according to what he remembered from the anime Itachi had killed the parents, he also loved with all his heart.
He mumbled to himself while turning the idea over.
“There is much more to you Itachi.
Much more than I believed when I only knew the version from the anime.
A boy who feels this much care for his family does not wake up one morning and decide to destroy everything.
Something darker must have pushed him to that edge.” Another thought formed as he considered the state of the body he now occupied.
“Is he dead though.
No.
He seems to have caught himself in a genjutsu after feeling the helplessness from Shisuis death.
His mind locked itself inside a perfect dream where Shisui is still alive and the pain never happened.
That is why the body is empty of its original owner even though the heart is still beating.” With Itachis memories came the entire knowledge of chakra the battle experience and everything else Itachi himself had learned during his short life.
Julian now understood how to feel the flow of energy inside this body and how to shape it into techniques.
He decided to test one of the simplest methods first.
He formed the hand seals and spoke the word clearly.
“Kai.” He tried to disturb his own chakra in the way the memories taught him hoping the genjutsu would break.
Nothing changed.
He spoke again while considering the next step.
“This Sharingan is supposed to be an evolved form according to Itachis memories.
Both his and Shisui’s.
So the genjutsu must be strong too.
A simple Kai is not enough to break something created by the Mangekyo.
I need a different method.” He remembered how Naruto had talked to the nine tails which also resided inside the boys body through a place called the mindscape.
Since Julian himself was inside Itachis body and since Itachi had not truly died he should be able to meet the original owner in that same inner space.
He slowly closed his eyes and used the method that Itachis memories provided for reaching the mindscape.
The outer world faded and a new place formed around him.
Julian looked around the mindscape carefully.
His own appearance here resembled the body he had worn on Earth.
He stood as a nineteen year old with the face and height he remembered from mirrors in his laboratory.
Itachis mindscape was quiet and orderly much like the boy himself.
It resembled a broad stone courtyard surrounded by old maple and cherry trees.
A shallow pond sat at its centre and the surface of the water was almost perfectly still.
He walked slowly around the courtyard taking in every detail before he reached the centre.
Under the largest cherry tree there lay Itachi Uchiha with his eyes closed.
The boy looked peaceful as if he were simply sleeping under the shade of the branches.
Julian felt no need for gentle methods.
He walked straight up to the sleeping figure and without any remorse slapped him across the face.
When Itachi did not wake he slapped him a second time with the same firm force.
Itachi instantly opened his eyes.
In one smooth motion he was already on top of Julian holding him in a submission move that pressed firmly against his joints.
The young Uchiha looked down with serious eyes that held no trace of the earlier peaceful sleep.
“Who are you?” Itachi asked.
He seemed to regain his full senses as he looked around the familiar courtyard and then added another question.
“And what are you doing in my mindscape.
This place belongs to me alone.” Julian stayed still under the hold and answered in a steady voice.
“That is a question that I am also asking right now.
I woke up inside your body on a cliff with blood on my hands and no clear idea how any of this happened.
One moment I was dead on Earth and the next I was standing in your place looking out at the Hokage faces carved into the mountain.” Itachi tightened the hold slightly and asked again.
“What do you mean.
Explain yourself clearly.
How did an outsider enter this space and take control of my body.” Julian looked up at the serious face above him and spoke with quiet determination.
“Well this should help you understand everything at once.” He barely managed to lift one hand free from the hold.
With a quick motion he flicked Itachi’s forehead.
And this time it was Itachi who was slammed with a sudden flood of memories that did not belong to him.
The entire life of Julian Kane rushed into his mind.