Chapter 1: Tragedy of the Commons
The secrets to becoming the best are still unknown, for there are always forces that will stop you. Beings can be half your age, and twice as strong. Unless your knowledge is endless, then being the best is impossible. This book will tell you how to improve your skills, learn more, and defeat personal challenges you never thought you could...
"Itachi Uchiha! To my office at once!" Pein snapped and Itachi's eyes left the book he had been given in an instant. He new what was coming. His new solo mission to recruit his own partner, the girl who killed Kisame. They had ran into her while chasing after his little brother, Sasuke. He stood up from the love seat in the commons of their hideout.
"Yes, leader." Pein turned and started walking to his office. Itachi followed Pein silently remembering the events of the week before. That was the last time he saw his best friend. Tears stung his eyes and he wiped them away. He felt a hand gripping his shoulder. He looked up and Pein had a simpathetic look on his face. He wasn't heartless, he knew Itachi was hurting. They both walked his office and Pein put one arm around Itachi's shoulder.
1 week ago
Itachi was standing over his motionless partner as blood seeped thru Kisame's torn and tattered cloak, gripping his sword for dear life with the last breathes escaped his split lower lip and his broken jaw. "Ita-" He gasped with the final few breaths. "Itachi..."
"Kisame... Save your strength" Itachi whispered tenderly. He felt the pain, but he wouldn't show it. He felt like his heart was being ripped and torn. Kisame closed his eyes and when he opened them, Mala had Itachi by the lips, kissing him, adding insult to injury. It pissed Kisame off, He tried to move but he couldn't. The pain was unbearable.
Mala ended the kiss and threw Itachi on his back, and he slowly got back on his knees. Once he did. She took Kisame's sword and unraveled it, holding it over his slow-beating heart.
"If you have anything to say to him.. Do it now." She said in a harsh voice. Her eyes were blood red and her pale skin stained with the crimson liquid she killed for and her long flowing hair was pulled back into a low ponytail that resembled Itachi's.
Kisame and his partner looked at each other and said at the same time "It's been great working with you." The assassin held the sword up high, blade pointing to Kisame, and slammed it on the ground as hard as she could. As soon as the blade hit the ground, Itachi closed his eyes and heard Kisame's final scream. He re-opened his eyes, and the killer was gone. Three tears left his eyes and landed on his now deceased friend's pale and bloody face. He began digging Kisame's grave by the lake, once he was done, He picked up his friend and placed him in the grave and began covering up the hole and placed his sword in the ground as the headstone.
"I know you have been through a tragedy this week, so I will be blunt with you." Pein said in a softer voice, recognizing the pain seeping through his best worker. "We found the girl's name and location, but this is no assassination mission Itachi. We want you to recruit her. She will be a wonderful addition to the team." Itachi cringed because he knew, she killed his partner, and she was his replacement.
"What is the information on her?" He asked, he figured maybe she could explain why out of the clear blue she did what she did. "What do I need to know?"
"Her name is Malarose Black. She is a part of the Valley of The Shadows, a very powerful village who has won countless wars, and massacred many clans. They say if you can find the village, you wont make it out alive to tell what it looks like." Pein paused to take a breath and pushed Itachi into the chair behind him.
"Some say that the village is painted red, some say it's to dark to tell. There has only been one person to make it from Konoha to there and back." Pein described the village and what Itachi was to go there for. "Konoha's current hokage is the only person, man or woman to make it out alive. Talk to her, she will tell you what you need to know. If you don't make it back, I will do this mission myself." Itachi was shocked that the leader offered to do it himself, but he could do it.
He took off to Konoha, his home, to speak with Tsunade. He hoped she would co-operate with him and tell him what he needed to know. 'I feel so empty without Kisame. At least I had someone to talk to.' He stopped at the gate to the village, almost lost in his thoughts and emotions. Anger, frustration, hurt.. The list can go on and on, but so could he.
"What do you want?" The guard snapped and drew his sword. The guard knew of Itachi's strength, but didn't know of the events that occurred the following week.
"I would like to speak with the hokage about a mission my leader gave me." Itachi said calmly and collectively. He crossed his arms and sighed deeply, trying to keep his composer.
"Oh, well the Hokage has alot to do today she is very busy." The guard informed Itachi of the long amounts of paperwork and the meetings she had to go to.
"I don't think you heard me." Itachi activated the mangekyo-sharingan and the gaurd got the picture. "I need to speak with the hokage."
"Right this way, sir." The guard escorted Itachi to Tsunade's office as people gave him all kinds of different looks, fear, wonder, and paranoia. One girl gave him and envious look, which creeped him out more then even that one sanin with the frog. They approached the building that Tsunade was perched in, working her slender fingers to the bone.
Once they came up to the door, the guard knocked on the door softly "Yes? What is it? I'm busy!" Tsunade called from inside the room.
"You have an important visitor, Hokage-chan." The guard replied nervously and Itachi was once again re-calling the events of the following week
One week ago
Itachi was on his knees on the ground spitting up blood and saliva like crazy, He was about to panic. "Wha-" He interruped himself with a horse and bloody cough. "What did you do to me.. How did you?"
Malarose punched the barely standing Kisame so hard he fell and rolled over to Itachi motionless and hardly able to breathe. "I'm not sure, but i'm glad I did." She grinned and walked over to Itachi and pulled him to the side. Mala removed the blood and loose hair from his face and smiled softly "You're not that bad looking, Itachi-kun. You will make an exellent addition to the village." She closed her eyes and gently placed her lips softly on his, slowly moving them along. He closed his and suddenly felt better somehow, he was too overwhelmed to tell. Mala ended the kiss, and ended his friend as well.
"Itachi Uchiha. What do we have here?" Tsunade snarled, her guard was up and she wanted to know what was going on that an Akatsuki can drag his ass to her office like he was a friend.
"I have been set on a mission by my leader to find this girl." He pulled out a portfolio with her picture on the front and the information inside. That was all that was known about the girl.
"Let me see it." Itachi handed the folder off to the hokage and she motioned for him to sit down. The pain was inevitable on his face, any moron who could see could tell. Tsunade could tell, and she asked "Is everything alright? A cold-hearted murderer like you shouldn't be feeling pain or anything of the sort." Itachi sighed.
"Well..." Itachi began explaining the situation to Tsunade, his voice cracking once in a while and he got to the point of almost coming to tears. He relived the entire bloody battle with the teen-aged girl, down to the tearful goodbye with Kisame. "This girl, killed my best friend.. It happened but about seven days ago.. I'm still not over it."
Tsunade was appalled that the girl, Itachi was after, was able to assassinate his friend and partner. She took the folder and gasped. "She's from the Valley of Darkness?" Itachi nodded. He didn't see the big deal as he watched her read the information on Malarose. She flipped thru the pages of ninja's that have died by her hands.
"I am supposed to go to the valley, but I have been told nobody returns, so my leader asked me to speak with you because you were the only one to make it out." Itachi said and Tsunade looked at him with concern in her eyes. She herself had to take Jiraiya just to make it out alive.
"Itachi, I am going to be forward with you. You can't do it yourself. You will end up like your parnter. I myself had to take a team mate and we both ended up in intensive care for months." She said. "I am going to do this to you as a favor, Not because I like you because at one point you belonged to this village too. I am assigning a squad of one jonin and three genin to company you on this mission." Itachi was beyond confused, he sat there pondering.
'Why in the name of hell would I need help?' "Lady Hokage, with all due respect I think I can handle it..."
"Nope." She said shortly. "I am sending a squad with you. One that can handle what the villiage can throw at them." She picked up the phone in her office, held it to her ear and dialed a number. "Hello, Kakashi.. I have a mission for you. Come to my office, you'll be surprised. Just don't kill anyone when you get here." She put down the phone and looked at his wide eyes and pale skin. "What?"
"Of all the people I have to work with it has to be them..." He said. Dread and anxiety ran through his exausted body. He set his elbow on the table and put his palm on the plate of his headband. "It had to be my little brother..."
Tsunade took Itachi's free hand into hers. "I know this passed few days have been rough, but they are the only one's capable of helping you. Think about it. Kakashi and Sasuke both have the sharingan, as well as you. A team like that is idiot proof." He looked at her with his black eyes misty with tears. "Don't worry. This will all be confidential between me and you." He nodded and wiped the tears away.
"Thank you Lady Hokage." He said softly. A knock came across the door as you heard a loud little boy excited about the dangerous mission. "Here we go..."
Kakashi opened the door and all four of them froze solid. To see an enemy they swore to kill, sitting in front of Tsunade with her comforting him. "Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto. You all will be accompanying Itachi on a mission, to save Konoha." Sakura couldn't help but stare at the handsome and deadly man sitting in front of her. She watched as he flipped his long silky black hair out of his coal colored eyes. How every movement seemed to be flawless, and how every look he gave her made her heart melt. She hadn't felt this strongly for anyone, not even her stone cold team mate. She turned her head and watched Sasuke become fuming mad. You could feel the anger radiating off him as he stood in the office with blood red eyes, and a face to match it. Itachi felt the anger his little brother was feeling, he felt it too. Tsunade was right though, when you put two people with the same full bloodline and one person with half of it, the team is unstoppable. "I won't do it.." Sasuke fumed at Tsunade.
"Yes you will. If you want to be a part of this village and keep your chakra you will do it and like it." Tsunade said. "I have been speaking with Itachi for an hour, he's hurt and vulnerable right now." She got up and handed Kakashi the files Itachi gave her. He read them slowly, analyzing every bit of important information he could.
"Her name is Malarose?" He questioned, Kakashi had heard a lot of weird names, but that took the cake. Tsunade nodded.
"Itachi can tell you more about her.. He had to battle her not long ago, and had to suffer a loss to go with it. Watch what you say around him.." She stated. Itachi stood up and started to take off his cloak, shirt and headband. Sakura blushed, He had the perfect body. His tanned skin was muscular and flawless. She felt her heart flutter. Naruto was looking at him with admiration at how powerful he was and how brave he was acting nothing like his normal self while his emotions were running rampant. Tsunade handed him his old anbu uniform "I bet its' been a while since you have seen this huh?" Tsunade smirked.
"Yeah, about four years.." Itachi smiled softly. Seeing his old uniform brought back memories and he looked at his old tattoo, Kakashi had one to match. He looked over at Kakashi and said "Do you remember when we were on the same Anbu squad?" Thinking back a while before heading off was a good way to take his mind off things.
"How could I forget. You were my captain and you were only 13. I was damned old and you were a pipsqueak." Kakashi laughed a bit. "You always were energetic as a child, spent everyday training your ass off trying to improve. I think that mission Sarutobi gave you fucked it all up." Itachi's eyes got wide and he started making slash marks at his neck, attemping to shut the copy ninja. Kakashi got the message to nut up.
Sasuke looked at Kakashi with a puzzled look and Itachi sighed "What mission? What fucked what all up?" Sasuke demanded to be told what was going on.
"Sasuke, I will explain everything in time.. You're not ready to learn the truth."