This story is dedicated to Aerona, and for all the wisdom she has imparted on me as a wonderful senior.
Two Stoic Ninjas
Uchiha Sasuke had foolishly allowed the slimy Sannin to mark him with a curse seal and his older brother was not happy about it. Not only did it pose an extra problem for him to solve before he died by his brother's hands (or so that was how he planned his death to be), it also meant that Danzo and the equally stinky village heads would now have a reason to dispose of his brother. Alright, maybe not dispose, since they wouldn't want to lose their last Uchiha, but surely scheming bastards like Danzo would not jump at this opportunity and not do something about it.
Uchiha Itachi landed extra hard on a branch which gave a loud crack in response.
Honestly, Itachi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at his brother for being so weak. Orochimaru might have been a sannin, but Itachi had expected more from his brother.
The two Akatsuki members halted to a stop atop separate tree branches as main gates of the Hidden Village of Konoha came into view.
Hoshikagi Kisame grinned, two neat rows of jaws gleaming in the sunlight. "Well well well, will you just look at where we are?" He turned to face his partner. "Homesick?"
Itachi did not respond. To Kisame, and the other Akatsuki members, their trip back to Konoha was purely to capture the Kyuubi kid. However, his real intent on embarking on this mission was to make his presence known in Konoha, to scare them a little, to remind them that their number one missing ninja was still alive and kicking, and that they had better not touch the one person he had sacrificed so much to protect.
"We won't be going through the main entrance. We're using the ANBU Root entrance." Itachi said.
"Aww, but it would be fun playing with the guards, or are you getting soft?" Kisame said, with the same grin still plastered on his face.
Again, without saying a word, Itachi jumped off the branch and landed on the forest floor. Kisame followed suit. They strolled through the forest silently until they reached a small clearing. Itachi started walking around a medium sized rock slightly towards the left of the clearing.
Kisame watched amused. "And I thought only Sand Ninja's worshipped rocks."
After five rounds around the rock, Itachi made some handseals and slammed his palm down on the rock.
Nothing happened and Kisame roared with laughter. "You're ancient Itachi! Even Konoha knows how to change secret entrances from time to time."
"Next time, look before you open that fishy mouth of yours, Kisame-san." a smug reply came from the Sharingan user. As stoic as he was known to be, sometimes he could not help but irritate others for the fun of it.
Kisame turned around and right behind him, was an opening with stairs leading underground. He wondered in awe how such an opening was created so noiselessly. He did not even feel any chakra change in the atmosphere. He followed Itachi into the underground bunker sulking slightly.
As they reached the end of the stairs, Itachi motioned for them to stop as they stood in front of a crossroad. He knew that the one on the right would lead them straight to Danzo's Root Headquarters, while the other led to the left nostril of Sandaime in the Hokage Mountain. It was old news that Danzo, who no doubt crafted out this entrance, disliked the third Hokage greatly.
"Kisame, you take the left. It will lead you into the heart of Konoha. Find out more about the Kyuubi. I will meet you outside the old Uchiha compound at noon. Don't find trouble. We are only here to get information about the Kyuubi."
"You got someone you want to meet?" asked Kisame, even though it was a rule in Akatsuki to not poke into personal businesses of others unless it interfered with the progress of the mission.
"Yes."
"Girlfriend?"
"No."
Kisame gave a pseudo horrified look that turned into a smirk. "Boyfriend?"
Itachi remained impassive at the comment before announcing, "I'll take my leave now, Kisame-san. Remember, Uchiha compound at noon." He then disappeared through the right tunnel in a puff of smoke.
Kisame stared at the empty spot where his partner once stood and his lips curved upwards.
"I knew Itachi was gay."
Itachi rushed down the dimly lit tunnel with full alertness. Knowing Danzo, this path was probably filled with traps – to train the Root ANBU to not trust anything, not even their home village.
Danzo was a twisted and dangerous person. That was why Itachi had to visit him personally. The village heads were not so much of a threat. They were but two stupid old man and woman after all. But Danzo, even in his old age, had an army of ANBU ninjas at his disposal that had pledged their lives to Danzo and not the Hokage.
Not many people knew about the existence of Root, only a select few Hokage ANBU. Itachi had always wondered where Danzo got all the ANBU Root ninjas. Surely, they did not attend the same ninja academy that every other normal ninja did. Of course, there was always the disturbing rumour about Danzo kidnapping women and fathering all of the Root ninjas himself.
Itachi stopped abruptly. He had sensed a slight chakra shift in the surroundings. Someone else was in the tunnel besides himself, probably some Root Ninja. Itachi activated his Sharingan and pinpointed the chakra location. There seemed to be four chakra signatures charging towards him. Not wanting to waste time with pointless fighting, he fabricated a high levelled genjutsu before continuing his way through the tunnel.
Unless the ninjas were skilled genjutsu users themselves, there was no way they would break Itachi's genjutsu, let alone realize that they were trapped in one.
A few seconds passed, and Itachi noticed that something was not quite right. His senses were tingling, telling him that his genjutsu had failed. Odd, hardly anyone could be as high leveled as him in genjutsu. In fact, he could not think of anyone that could surpass him. Itachi's brow furrowed slightly as he searched for the hostile chakra and realized that his opponent was closing in on him, fast.
A loud growl resounded behind Itachi before an odd looking lion sank its razor sharp claws into his calf. Three other lions followed it, each taking a good bite of Itachi – who promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a large boulder and four confused lions.
Somewhere in the shadows of the dimly-lit tunnel, a dark haired artist gave a small gasp of surprise when an arm appeared out of nowhere and held a kunai dangerously close to his jugular.
"Chakra infused ink particles. Quite impressive I must say. I have never seen anything quite like it." Itachi mused behind his captive before moving in for the kill. "It's a pity I never will again."
Itachi slit the pale throat of the artist in one swift move. Blood started to sprout out from where the jugular vein was and everything was taken care of, except that this particular ninja had black blood.
"Uchiha-san," a surprisingly calm voice rang from the ceiling of the tunnel, "You're not the only one who knows kawarimi, you know?"
Lowering his hand that once held the neck of the pale ninja, Itachi stepped over the puddle of ink and stared up at the ceiling, irrationally hoping to catch the eyes of the ninja and trap him in a genjutsu to end this fight. This ninja was being too long a distraction. He needed to get to Danzo fast if he did not want to be late meeting up with Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi was never late.
The pallid painter watched intently from behind a huge rock outcrop as the Sharingan user lowered his head and closed his eyes, seemingly oblivious to the little inky ants that were crawling up his toes, over his shoes, up his calves… Just a little longer before the hundreds of chakra ants bit into his eight main chakra gates, rendering the great Uchiha Itachi useless.
And then, the Sharingan user smirked and opened his eyes.
"You know, you remind me a little of my foolish little brother," he said. "Always setting up traps and hiding somewhere near to see if I would fall for them."
Halting his jutsu for a moment, the artist looked at Itachi incredulously. Such strange last words, but it made him wonder if his older brother had thought of him before his death.
"It was fun though, watching Sasuke think that I did, only to find out that he was tricked himself." Itachi continued, now staring directly at where the young painter was hiding.
"I wouldn't set off the jutsu if I were you. Why don't you look at yourself?"
The artist tore his eyes away from the spinning red orbs and looked down at himself. To his astonishment, his very own ants were positioned right at where his chakra gates were. Glancing back at Itachi, he realized that the ants that were there just a fraction of a second ago had completely vanished. He had fallen for Uchiha's genjutsu all along!
"When did you..?"
"When you saw my reflection in the kunai I held at your neck."
Itachi watched bemused as wave of realisation washed over the ninja's face. He even looked a little like Sasuke, if you stared hard enough and pictured him with a sulkier face. Itachi felt a sudden wave of nostalgia as he continued watching the ninja.
Diverging from the usual shinobi code of conduct, one which called for all ninjas to deal with enemies as swiftly and silently as possible, Itachi asked, "What is your name?"
"What is it you want from Konoha?" the ninja asked, ignoring Itachi's question.
"You did not answer my question."
"There are other Root ANBUs around. My death will not equate to your escape."
Itachi gave a barely audible chuckle. He was very much like Sasuke, single-minded and very dense.
"You seem to be under the impression that I am going to kill you." Itachi noted, "And you have yet to answer my question."
Belatedly, the artist realized that the missing nin would have killed him by now if he had intended to, but have yet to make any moves as of the current situation, but that did not mean that he was going to relax around this person.
"Answer my question and I'll answer yours. What do you want with Konoha," said the artist, and after a moment of thought, added, "weasel face."
Under any normal circumstance, Uchiha Itachi would have knocked this ninja unconcious and continued to make his way to visit the bandaged old man. However he found it a little hard to do so when said ninja reminded him so much of his beloved Sasuke. No, make it an improved version of Sasuke, one that actually knew how to joke and throw insults rather than sulking all day long. Unable to resist himself, Itachi reached out his hand and ruffled the black hair of the shinobi. However infamous Uchiha Itachi was, it wasn't known to many that the great shinobi was in fact prone to sporadic emotional outbursts.
While resisting the urge to pinch the artist's cheeks, Itachi said, "I'm actually on my way to pay Danzo a visit. He needs to know that my foolish brother, Uchiha Sasuke, I'm not sure if you have heard of him, but I need to inform Danzo that my little brother isn't at his disposal just yet.
Sure he has heard of the infamous Uchiha Sasuke. He had watched that pretty boy fight during the chunnin exams with the crazy red haired ninja from Sand. But his brother was…different. Or perhaps it was the personal gesture from this particular Uchiha that made him feel loved all over again, just like the times when his brother had still been alive.
"Ah, that penis-less porcupine."
Itachi smiled at the younger ninja, "Yes, he does need to restyle his hair, doesn't he?" Dropping his hand from the ninja's head, he continued, "Now that I've answered you, it's time you answered me."
"I have no name, like all other Root ninja."
"No name? Did your parents not name you?"
"I was orphaned before I could remember. Danzo-sama does not name the kids he brings in."
It appeared that Danzo collected soldiers for his little underground army by picking up stray orphans, and not by raping innocent young virgins. Itachi surveyed the ninja for moment before saying, "Sai."
Sai proceeded to give Itachi a confused look.
"Sai. That's your name from now on. It means 'genius' when written in kanji." Itachi explained. That was not the real reason however, what Itachi actually had in mind when he coined the name was Sai's ridiculous outfit that bared his midriff – Sai also meant 'navel', but he didn't have to know that.
"Oh," replied Sai, taken quite aback at Uchiha's sudden declaration of his new name, but remembered quickly that he was still very much Konoha's enemy, and no matter how brotherly he sounded, Sai should not entertain him. But…it wouldn't hurt to just throw one more insult before they fought again right?
"Like anyone would want a name from a feminine weasel girl with a long ponytail."
"I'm sure you like it, Sai." Itachi replied calmly with a small smile still etched on his face. Sensing that Sai was going to initiate another fight soon, he lifted his arm and poked Sai in the forehead, saying, "Forgive me Sai, maybe we'll fight some other time. It's almost noon and I'll have to get going now. Not to Danzo, so you needn't have to worry." He moved his arm upward and ruffled the artist's hair one last time. "It was nice meeting you, Sai."
Before Sai could utter any reply, Itachi made a handseal and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the painter alone in the tunnel with emotions he hadn't felt in a long time, not since his brother had died. His lips quirked upwards to form a real smile as felt his hair where Itachi had so affectionately ruffled before. Sai turned around and headed back to the Anbu Headquarters. Uchiha Itachi seemed to not have taken offense at any insults Sai dished out today and Sai silently wondered if he was losing his touch, or if he was one of those ninjas that was just too cool to be offended at such insults. He probably was the latter, thought Sai, he was Uchiha Itachi afterall, and such a powerful shinobi definately would not fall prey to such elementary verbal attacks.
Oh well, that just meant he had to think up of better ones the next time they met.
"I'm going to kill that Uchiha when he gets here. He's going to be late in approximately three..two..one.."
Poof!
"Darn! Why do you always arrive in time?" Kisame half-yelled at his infuriating partner, before noticing a slight downward curve of said partner's lips. "And...are you sulking?"
Itachi turned to face his blue-skinned partner and asked somewhat forlornly, "Kisame-san, do you really think my ponytail makes me look girly?"